Wolves of Storybrooke
by helterskelter3310
Summary: The quiet lives of the residents of Storybrooke get disrupted when a pack of werewolves start terrorizing the town. People start going missing and residents start taking extreme measures, while others just start acting strange. Belle finds herself in a delicate situation as a second pack is uncovered but this one is the only thing keep the town from being destroyed.
1. Getting Restless

Winter was fast approaching in Storybrooke. Gray clouds loomed overhead constantly full of potential for a fast and heavy snowfall. Bundled up residents of this small town scurried around from building to building trying to avoid the cold.

Like most mornings Belle sat at the counter in Granny's diner with a mug of hot chocolate and watched the crowds that bustled in before they went off to work. Mornings were always the busiest time of the day at Granny's. Ruby sauntered between tables refilling coffee and taking orders. The dwarves would gradually get louder until Granny scowled at them and then they'd take that as a warning to leave. Sidney Glass would order a little "pick me up" and then hide it behind a newspaper. Belle would watch this from her table in the corner until Ruby would take a break to come talk to her.

The two exchanged greetings and little bits of gossip. Most news spread so fast there was only so much they could tell that the other didn't already know. Mostly Ruby talked about her vivacious new relationship with Dr. Whale and Belle talked about the most recent book she'd been reading. She knew better than to bring up Rumple very often. Ruby tolerated him better than most, but Belle didn't want to press her luck.

At exactly 7:45 Belle would walk the few blocks to the library and unlock the front door. People would come and go all day until she closed at 8pm just like every other day. To be honest Belle was starting to get bored. Life in Storybrooke was nice and calm but Belle was starting to resent the monotony. Rumple would surprise her from time to time but she could tell he was getting restless too. It was too nice here. She needed a little spark, a little life, and maybe a little danger. She wanted an adventure.

Belle was sitting behind the main desk in the library as she watched the snow start to fall outside. She spent most of the day staring out the window. She knew her customers would just chalk it up to her weirdness. Nobody outright said it but Belle knew it was there. Just under the surface they were all thinking it. Belle's weird. Belle's different. That odd girl, Belle.

She'd been hidden away during the curse and then when she was released she was only herself for a little while before she became Lacey. Then they all found out she'd been locked away in the asylum all those years. They may be from another land but that didn't mean they gossiped any less. Her relationship with the meanest, cruelest and generally most hated man in Storybrooke added even more fuel to the fire. They were all nice on the outside but only a few genuinely liked her.

At 7 o'clock she was already ready to close. No one was going to go to the library while it was snowing this hard. Plus she needed to get home before it got worse. She got up and went to the window to get a better view.

There was a solid layer of white covering the ground and one side of the light pole across the street. The wind rattled the window ferociously and Belle was grateful that Leroy had replaced the old, cracked windows for her.

Rumple's house was several blocks away and she would have to walk in her coat that now seemed very inadequate for the snow storm just getting started outside. She was still staring outside when she realized there was something moving out there. A dark shape was hunched down in the alley between the Clark's Pharmacy and the bowling alley. She pressed up against the window trying to figure out what it was. It was on four legs, that much she could tell. It looked like a dog but much, much bigger. This thing had to be at least 5 feet high, and that was on all fours. It moved closer to the light of the street pole. It was covered in a thick, short black fur that had patches of gray scattered throughout. It was sniffing along the ground and digging at the snow.

Belle's cell phone buzzed and she jumped. The dog's head shot up and stared at her with glowing yellow eyes. It's lips pulled back in a snarl that terrified Belle. She rolled to her right so that she was behind the wall and out of sight of the window. She stayed flat up against the wall with her heart pounding madly for over a minute before peaking into the window. The animal was gone.

She got closer to the window and looked as far as she could in either direction down the street. Still no animal. She let out a sigh of relief before pulling her phone out of her pocket.

It was a text from Rumple telling her to be careful on her way home. It was no longer the snow that worried her.


	2. Into The Woods

The next morning Belle woke up to the beeping of her alarm. She reached over and shut it off. She gently moved Rumple's arm from around her waist so that she could get out of bed. She went about her usual morning routine. She got dressed, brushed her teeth, went back to the bedroom to give her lover a kiss. Normally he was already awake but he must've been awake longer than she realized last night. She'd been asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

She'd barely stepped into Granny's when she realized something was different. There was a buzz of energy that hadn't been there before. Everyone was milling around going from table to table talking in urgent voices. Belle stood in the doorway, absolutely confused until Ruby spotted her standing there and pushed through a huddle of people all talking at once.

"Belle!" Ruby said with a mix of relief and excitement.

"What happened?" Belle said still looking around. Only Sidney was sitting by himself but he was turned towards all the commotion, clearly eavesdropping.

"Roger went missing last night." Ruby said as she too turned to look towards her anxious customers.

"Who's Roger?" Belle lowered voice.

"Oh! Um. He lives a few houses down from Victor." Ruby said as though this was a sufficient enough answer and Belle pretended that she knew who he was now. She still had no clue but he must have been well known to cause an uproar like this.

"David just came in to break the news like 5 minutes before you got here." Ruby filled her in as they walked towards Belle's usual spot in the diner.

"Do you think they'll find him?"

Ruby paused thoughtfully as she sat down across from Belle. "I hope so. David told me that him and Emma are going to send out search parties."

Belle instantly thought of the giant dog she'd seen the night before. For all she knew it could still be around, perhaps lurking in the woods somewhere just waiting for an innocent stranger to stumble into it's hunting ground.

"Do you think that's safe?" Belle asked quietly as she leaned over the table.

Ruby looked at her friend quizzically. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well," Belle didn't really want to tell her friend about she saw, just in case she'd imagined it. The last thing she needed to have Ruby think she was hallucinating. "What if Roger was….kidnapped….by something dangerous. Wouldn't sending more people out be risking them too."

Sidney was eyeing the two of them in a way that made Belle's skin crawl. This was more than just eavesdropping.

Ruby eyed Belle curiously. Then looked over her shoulder. The crowd was settling down and the diner was starting to get quieter. Ruby leaned in even closer.

"What do you know?" She whispered so quietly Belle almost couldn't hear her. Belle leaned back, away from Ruby.

"Nothing. It's just a thought."

Ruby's eyes narrowed briefly as large man started obnoxiously shaking the ice in glass. Ruby sighed and went back to work. Belle left almost immediately after Ruby got up.

Belle could hardly focus on her librarian duties throughout the day. She watched from the doorway as people started to file into the sheriff's office. She took one look into the empty library, then flipped her sign over to closed and marched determinedly over to the sheriff's office.

Emma and David were standing in front of the cells when Belle got there. A large group of Storybrooke residents were standing together in front of them. She could see Mary Margaret standing towards the front with her arm wrapped around a young, determined looking blonde woman with red-rimmed eyes. That had to be Roger's wife. Dr. Hopper was in the far corner looking worried. All of the dwarves as well as Anton stood right up front. There were many others who she recognized on sight but didn't know their names.

Dr. Whale was there leaning against a wall, looking irritated. Regina stood not too far away from him with her arms crossed and a look of indifference on her face. _Maybe that's why he looks pissed_ Belle thought to herself.

"-and do a grid search of the woods starting at the road." Emma was speaking but Belle hadn't really been listening.

Everyone gathered into groups. Belle was suddenly reminded that she was still an outsider. There was no instant picking Belle as part of the group. People started filing out of the building already in groups and Belle was left standing there.

"Looks like you're with me." Regina stood next to Belle. Belle's stomach dropped at the thought of being alone with Regina of all people. She was tired of being afraid of the woman so Belle decided to just grit her teeth and deal with it. Regina marched out the door and Belle was hot on her heels.

By the time Regina and Belle got to their spot for the search most of the teams were already in the woods. Emma stood in the middle of the road directing people. She looked up when Regina and Belle were about 20 feet away. She gave Regina a nod and the mayor returned it and then marched off into the woods. Belle looked back at Emma but she was pointing at something for Dr. Hopper.

Both women were silent during their trek. Every so often Regina would stop and look around. The air was cold and it was starting to make her nose run by Regina seemed utterly unaffected by it. In fact Belle noticed the Queen's coat wasn't nearly as thick as her own.

_Maybe she has more layers underneath it than I do._ The ankle deep snow didn't seem to slow her down either. Belle was having trouble keeping up with her pace. Belle's boots sank into the snow with crunching noises. Voices from the other search groups, which had previously echoed around the woods were starting to grow faint.

They had hiked quite a ways into the woods now. Regina was stopping to look around less and less now. It was like she was following a trail that Belle just couldn't see no matter how hard she tried. She was a bit out of breath but she was determined to keep up with the other woman when suddenly Regina stopped dead in her tracks. Belle muttered a "Finally" but Regina shushed her. They were in the middle of a small clearing and the trees around them were thick and very little light was let in.

Belle tried to breathe as quietly as possible. Regina was so still that the only way Belle could even tell she was breathing was because it was so cold she could see her breath in the air. Then there was a loud crack from behind Belle that made her jump. In the blink of an eye Regina was in front of Belle with an arm outstretched towards her.

It was so silent Belle could hear her own heartbeat pounding in her ears like a drum. Regina was crouched down a little in front of her. Then there was a rushing sound and Regina whipped around and shoved Belle to the ground as something big and dark lunged from the trees and smacked right into her. Belle hit the ground hard and with an ungraceful thud.

Belle spat snow out of her mouth and turned quickly onto her back to see both the dark shape and Regina were gone but she could hear snarling and branches breaking to her left. She leapt off the ground and took off towards them. The noises were getting louder and there was a definite sound of tearing and snapping. She got to where they should've been almost within her sight when they took off and the sounds grew faint.

She was about to take off after them when a rustling noise behind her caught her attention. She turned to find herself face to face with another giant dog. But this time up close and she could tell this was no dog, this was a wolf. A very big wolf. It wasn't the same one either.

This one's fur was longer, it had a different build. This one had more bulk to it that the other. It stared at her with similar yellow eyes but they weren't as menacing as the other's. She slowly reached into her pocket. She only had one weapon she could use. She highly doubted she could do any physical damage and no way in hell could she outrun it.

Her fingers clamped onto a small tube connected to a key chain. Her heart was pounding painfully in her chest. The wolf just stared at her, so far it hadn't done anything malicious towards her other than pure intimidation.

Then it's lips parted to reveal a mouthful of sharp pointed teeth and Belle whipped out the mini can of mace and sprayed the wolf right in the eyes.

It howled in pain. She turned to run but her ankle twisted on a fallen branch and once again she found herself on cold, hard ground.

The air around the wolf rippled and she watched as the muscles shrank and the fur seemed to be pulled back into the skin. Pale skin. Human skin. In a few seconds she found herself looking at a man. A very naked man. A very naked man with messy black hair and only one hand that was rubbing at his eyes.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!"


End file.
